Is ‘Abolish Prisons’ the Next Frontier in Criminal Justice?

Bloomberg | June 12, 2019 | Bill Keller

[reaganaut1]

No excerpt from Bloomberg allowed, story here.

[ClearCase_guy]

My personal belief is that everyone should be allotted a maximum of 10 years in prison. Could be 5 sentences of 2 years each spread out over a lifetime, or 1 big 10 year sentence. Lots of ways for the courts to divide your 10 years if you choose to commit crimes at various points in your life.

But once you’ve spent 10 years total in prison, I think it’s time for the death penalty. I don’t approve of warehousing people. We don’t need to keep bad criminals around. And, hey, if you commit a really bad crime and that 10 year chunk just seems insufficient? Death penalty right away. No waiting.

Bottomline: I think we do prison incorrectly. A good chunk of society cannot provide any positive benefit but certainly provides a lot of negative costs. I see no reason to have warehouses or revolving doors.

But I’m mean.

[caww]

How about reinstating the death penalty and stop the creature comforts? We’d see less of those who use the prison system as their second home!

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[katana]

If they’re to be replaced with stocks, gallows, gibbets, guillotines, and transport to hovels on the coast of Greenland then I’ve not got much objection to the idea. Prisons amount to graduate academies for criminals.

[libertylover]

People who do not accumulate arrest records and jail time are more likely to stay employed, in families and out of trouble.

I guess we're supposed to impressed by this little bit of brilliant deduction.

[sloanrb]

Here’s an idea:

Give people a choice. Either a few years in prison or a few zaps with a painful taser. Not enough to kill, but painful enough to teach a lesson. Instead of wasting money and time keeping people locked up a criminal could get a painful zap and go on their way.

This is only for minor crimes. Murder, rape, and other major crimes need to either be in prison or executed. Smaller crimes like robbery and assault can have a choice of being zapped or a few years in prison.

[dfwgator]

“Thank God We Got Penitentiaries!” - Richard Pryor

[antidemoncrat]

The more the blacks take over the criminal justice system the more they want this to happen. For example “Dallas County DA’s Office Will No Longer Prosecute “Theft of Necessary Items” up to $750” and “Dallas Set to Have Highest Murder Rate In a Decade and Its Police Chief Has a Lot to Answer For”

[wastoute]

I beleive floggings, stocks, and gallows are more humane than our current system. Floggings let the community see that Justice is done, the punishment is immediate, the “rehabilitation” is almost as quick once the wounds heal. Let people pay for their crimes quickly and get on with their lives. Stocks are great for all the same reasons but without pain. For truly heinous crimes there’s the gallows. Don’t fall for the “innocent” argument in regard to the death penalty. Innocent soldiers die with regularity.

[frank ballenger]

Dems aren’t really for ending prisons-—

As of 2021 they will be overflowing with conservatives who disobey leftist demands.

Volunteer to turn in all your firearms (as New Zealand). Give up your house to illegals. Agree to not search any conservative authors or ideas on Google or search for such books on Amazon. Agree to have your children enroll in anti-capitalism and anti-Christian indoctrination centers.

See? The prisons will be crowded.

[HChampagne]

A good start would be to get rid of all Club Fed facilities. Just contract federal prisoners out to local state penitentiaries.

[DCBryan1]

Abolish prisons works for me. ….just kill the criminals first!

[HangnJudge]

200yrs ago, jails were not for long term punishment
They held onto people until one of 4 things occurred

1. Innocent and released
2. Punished, whipped, etc.
3. Fined, including confiscation of all worth, or
4. Executed

Functional definition of a felony was a
crime for which one was executed

I'm not at all sure the current system
is an improvement on that paradigm

[tet68]

Bottomline: I think we do prison incorrectly.

My ex-boss would agree, he said the problem with
prisons is that they are built above ground.

Liberals want us ALL to be imprisoned together.
Real socialist equality.

[mjp]

a system that is inherently racist and based on retribution should be pulled up by the roots.

Secular humanist leftards want restorative justice rather than retributive justice. They believe that crime is the fault of a bad society rather than individual personal choice.

[Migraine]

Hell, we abolished the funny farms and that worked out real nice, so, why not? /s

[BuffaloJack]

It’s either Prisons or the Soylent Factory.
You have to do something with criminals.

[upchuck]

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[JimRed]

We won’t need prisons if we just kill the criminals!